These stories are true and based on real events or converations as best as can be re-created.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

reader run over by bus the slammed door in his face, by the consumerist

On February 21, 2007, I was taking my 4 year old special needs child to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). It was around 2:50pm and we got to the TriMet bus which was on layover (Line 12). I smelled something coming from my son and considered the possibility that he may have a dirty diaper (thankfully, he's out of them now).

So I asked the bus driver if she would be willing to let me on the bus so I can change his diaper and then toss it away outside the bus so it wasn't on the bus the whole trip up to Portland (about an hour).

She said that it was against TriMet policy to change a diaper on the bus and to use the bathrooms across the street. She was getting ready to leave and I wouldn't have been able to go to the restrooms and be sure to catch the bus (It was the last bus that would've gotten us there while it was still open).

So I mentioned to her that I could change the diaper now (there was no place to change him outside as the area had no bench and had pretty sharp rocks along the side of the road), or I could change it while on the bus.

She got very upset at this and started screaming at me. I took it in stride and figured either I could wait an hour or I could miss the bus and have a screaming child who was promised OMSI and now isn't going. So I picked the hour.

After about 5 mins., the bus pulled forward and the driver announced that I wasn't allowed to board the bus. She told everyone to go around the corner where there is no stop and she will pick them up there.

So as the crown started moving towards that area, I followed along. Now, I'm overweight and I was holding my sons hand (who had started already crying because the bus was leaving for OMSI and we weren't on it). The bus came to a stop in the middle of the street and there were cars on the right hand side. Everyone had about a 3 foot gap to come up to the bus.

I was the last one to get there and as I got to the door, she closed it and started driving away. I started banging on the window to try and get her to stop and she didn't. I was in plain view when I tripped and a second later, my son saw me get run over by a bus and the meat on my left leg get ripped off.

I had 7 surgeries and a month in the hospital (racking up around $100,000 in medical costs). The lawyer that I got said that they are dropping the case because I can be considered to be at least 50% responsible (She didn't want me on the bus and I attempted to get on, so she gets to run over me). TriMet is (of course) denying any wrongdoing (in fact, according to the police report, they told police that the bus didn't run over my leg even though the doctors in ER saw the tire prints on the muscle I had left).

So now.. I essentially have to eat the costs of the medical (and have a deformed leg for the rest of my life) because I wanted to ride the bus and take my kid to OMSI.

I have a video of the accident and you can see that I remain calm during the whole process. The bus driver said that she was scared for her life, but shouldn't she have called the police if she was?